About the Canal Zone...

ok I still have not finished Gamboa Road Gang. I have not been reading the way I should, and to be honest, I do not like it (so far) as much as Luna Verde. But I plan to finish regardless, so now I am reading 2 chapters each morning until I am done.

I have not interviewed many people who expressed outrage at the existence of the Canal Zone, the Zonian population, or the American jurisdiction that ruled there. People have used words like "unjust" or "fear" when describing their experiences in the Zone, but no one has become emotional or loud when talking about American presence in Panama (past, present or future). This is really not surprising. (just fyi, the invasion has been the most sensitive and emotional issue during my interviews so far. Four people cried during their recollections , 3 men and 1 woman.)

However, one interviewee did share the sentiments of Jaoquin Beleno, which I will post here, but in a reverse logic. He was born in the US to Panamanian parents, raised in Panama by his grandparents. Interestingly, this man was outraged by the discrimination he experienced from Zone police officers when he was a child not because he was black or Panamanian, but because he was born in the US, is an American citizen(albeit unbeknownst to these officers) and thus has as much entitlement in the Zone as anyone else. He felt since he is an American (he lived in Panama with his Panamanian family, not in the Zone) he should be able to enjoy all the privileges in that Zonian children enjoyed, that the police should be protecting him as well, not punishing him. Perhaps it is my American point of view, but I think it is fascinating that this man does not believe his blackness has anything to do with the treatment he received from white American officers in the 1970s and 1980s.

Anyway, I digress. Here is a passage (sorry English-only readers. It is in Spanish) that I feel summarizes Beleño's view:
(p.85)

Es una infamia condenar a un hombre a trabajar gratis [the work of the road gang] durante largos años para la Compañía del Canal de Panamá, solamente porque lo encontraron cazando iguanas o robar una bicicleta que ya no valía ni cinco dólares. Es denigrante tener que vivir como yo, expatriado dentro de mi propia patria, porque si entro la latifundio de la Zona del Canal me condenan a un ano en Gamboa por infringir las leyes de destierro zoneíta. Ya yo no soy libre en mi país, no puedo transitar libremente por donde quiera, hay un lugar de lagunas e isletas, de faros y de carreteras sembradas de lawn, en donde yo no puedo encontrar. ¿Es eso democracia? ¿Es eso libertad? Si yo cometí un delito y fui condenado, ¿por qué razón los Estados Unidos me siguen condenando aún después de haber pagado mi delito?
...
(86-87)
...Debajo de unos servicios inmaculados y de una pulcritud ejemplar, existe una rapiña que mueve el bajo inter humano. En este latifundio militarmente socialista, en donde todo es Gobierno, como en un Estado fascista, se roba bajo el imperio de la ley. Lo que sucede es que la ley zoneíta es sorda para sus 10,000 zonians y sus soldados, pero dura para negros y mestizos que sólo pueden servir para mano esclava en Gamboa...

it goes on about how American teenagers do the same, and worse, as what non-Americans get put in jail for (hunting iguanas, stealing bikes, being fresh with women). But rather than jail, they either get sent to the US or it is just hushed and dealt with in the family. Clearly, he is not trying to disguise his opinions about this American 'caste' and he calls it. I wonder if I will interview anyone who actually says something similar.